Ultrabox receptacle box

ABSTRACT

A modular electrical receptacle box configured to allow outlets and switches to be easily installed using wire segments extending between terminals in the box bottom surface and the outlet and switch. The box has a housing having a first recess, at least one electrical outlet or switch secured to the housing and disposed in the first recess, a plurality of electrical terminals disposed in the bottom wall, a plurality of electrical conductor segments extending between the outlet or switch and the electrical terminals, and a first connector coupled to the electrical terminals via a plurality of electrical busses.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. Section 119(e) of U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/157,888 entitled ULTRABOXRECEPTACLE BOX filed May 6, 2015, the teachings of which are includedherein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This disclosure is directed to electrical boxes used in home andbusiness construction, including boxes for housing outlets, switches,connectors etc.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Electrical receptacle boxes are commonly used in residential andcommercial construction to house outlets, switches, connectors and otherinterfaces for connectivity. Traditional electrical boxes are typicallysecured to framing supporting walls in the structure, such as by nails,and electrical wiring is routed throughout the structure to thereceptacle boxes, such as Romex® wiring available from SouthwireCorporation. The electrical wiring is typically electrically connectedto outlets, switches and the like using wiring nuts to join strippedends of multiple wires together, with the wires terminating on terminalshaving screws or into openings configured to secure to the ends of thewire.

This wiring is very cumbersome to connect, and the coiling of excesswire in a small receptacle box is difficult and frustrating. The problemis compounded in receptacle boxes with multiple gangs of switches andoutlets. The multiple wires and wire nuts are often referred to as abirds nest. Servicing of existing wires and wire nuts after initialinstallation is extremely frustrating and problematic as well. Forinstance, replacing a standard switch with a dimmer switch is difficult,and may lead to unintentionally disconnecting another set of wiresduring the manipulation of the switch and wires.

SUMMARY

A modular electrical receptacle box configured to allow outlets andswitches to be easily installed using wire segments extending betweenterminals in the box bottom surface and the outlet and switch. The boxhas a housing having a first recess, at least one electrical outlet orswitch secured to the housing and disposed in the first recess, aplurality of electrical terminals disposed in the bottom wall, aplurality of electrical conductor segments extending between the outletor switch and the electrical terminals, and a first connector coupled tothe electrical terminals via a plurality of electrical busses.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a modular receptacle box including anoutlet joined to electrical wiring using wire segments havingconnectors, such as female type connectors, the wire segmentselectrically joining the receptacle to male type terminals of anelectrical bus extending in the box;

FIG. 2 is a view of the receptacle box of FIG. 1 with the outletselectively installed in another position in the box;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the receptacle box in FIG. 2 illustrating themale terminals of the electrical bus extending through openings in thebottom wall of the box, wherein an end set male terminals may beconnected to hot, such as standard 110V AC, the middle set of maleterminals may be connected to neutral, and the other end set of maleterminals may be connected to ground;

FIG. 4 is an end view of the receptacle box;

FIG. 5 is an exploded view of the receptacle box of FIG. 1, illustratingthe male terminals of the electrical bus for connectivity to the wiresegments in the receptacle box, and also for connectivity to electricalwiring servicing the receptacle box;

FIG. 6A is a cross sectional view taken along line 6A-6A in FIG. 1,illustrating an embodiment wherein the electrical bus extends in a spaceor cavity defined between a selectively removable rear cover and theouter surface of the receptacle box bottom;

FIG. 6B is a cross sectional view taken along line 6B-6B in FIG. 1,illustrating an embodiment wherein the electrical bus is molded into thebottom of the receptacle box, without the removable rear cover;

FIG. 7 is a side sectional view of the receptacle box in FIG. 1,illustrating the embodiment of FIG. 6A;

FIG. 8 is a side sectional view of the receptacle box in FIG. 2,illustrating the embodiment of FIG. 6A;

FIG. 9 is a perspective sectional view of the receptacle box in FIG. 1,illustrating the embodiment of FIG. 6A; and

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the receptacle box without the outletand wires, seen to include a removable plastic cover formed over thecavity of the receptacle box when manufactured, such that duringinstallation during construction debris, such as sheet rock plaster andparticles are prevented from degrading the electrical male terminals andalignment tabs for the receptacles and switches.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure provides a new receptacle box configured tosimplify both the installation and replacement cycles of commonelectrical receptacle boxes for residential and commercial applications.The design replaces the traditional inefficient and inconvenient bunchof wires and wire nuts typically found stuffed into receptacle boxeswith a modified “plug and play” style configuration.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a modular receptacle box 10 includes a body12 forming a housing. Body 12 has a recess 11 configured to receive oneor more electrical modules 13, such as a pair of electrical outletsconfigured to receive electrical plugs of as shown, as well as one ormore electrical switches, connector interfaces such as cable/TV modules,and the like. An opening of the recess 11 has upwardly extending tabs 16configured to receive mating portions of ends of the electrical modules13 to align the respective electrical modules 13 in parallel in therecess 11. The body 12 is configured to securely mount a switch oroutlet module 13 in precisely the correct orientation such that theswitches/outlets residing in the receptacle box 10 will fit properly(flush) the first time, every time, thus allowing the receptacle boxcover plate to also fit flush, the first time, every time.

The receptacle box 10 has a removable cover 14 configured to snap overan indented rear portion 15 of body 12 and forms a cavity 17 in the backof the receptacle box 10 to protect and cover electrical busses as willbe described. In one preferred embodiment, a pivotable tab or finger 19is configured to secure the receptacle box 10 to a support member, suchas a wall stud, by pinching the support member between a flange 25 ofthe housing and the tab 19 upon tightening a respective member, shown asa screw.

The receptacle box includes a connector on each end of the receptaclebox formed by a plurality of terminals 26 extending from electricalbusses. The connectors are opposing, and are configured to selectivelyconnect to a 3-strand new construction wiring, such as Romex wiring, viainsulated wire connectors 32. Each connector 32 has a pair of opposingspring members 28 configured to be pinched by a user's fingers to graspthe connector 32 when connected and disconnected from the receptacle boxconnector. The connectors allow multiple receptacle boxes 10 to beconnected in series, such as in a daisy chain configuration.

FIG. 3 illustrates a top view of the receptacle box 10. The housing 12has a bottom wall 22 and a plurality of side walls 24 defining therecess 11. The bottom wall 22 has a plurality of formed or drilledopenings 18 configured to allow male tabs 20 of the electrical busses toextend into the recess 11, as shown in FIG. 5. There is a set ofopenings 18 provided for each electrical module 13, shown as six (6)openings, the openings 18 being positioned under the respectiveelectrical module 13.

FIG. 4 is an end view of the receptacle box 10 illustrating theconnectors 32 and the assigned voltage of the terminals of thereceptacle box. For example, the left terminal may be for hot, such as110 VAC, the middle terminal for neutral, and the right terminal forground. In another embodiment, the left terminal may be for a positivevoltage, the middle terminal for negative, and the right terminal beingunused.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exploded perspective view of the receptacle box10. FIG. 6A shows a cross section taken along line 6A-6A in FIG. 1.These figures illustrate one embodiment of the disclosure whereby three(3) parallel electrical busses extend longitudinally behind the bottomwall 22 of body 12. Each of the electrical busses may be comprised ofhighly conductive material, such as copper, and may be formed bystamping. Each electrical bus has terminals comprising upwardingextending male blade-type connectors 20, and an end terminal 26 formedas a male blade-type connector. The electrical busses and terminals aredesigned to couple to 10-12 gauge wire segments 30. Each of theterminals 20 and 26 may have an electrical insulation 27 formedthereover, such as a plastic coating. The insulation 27 is stripped awayby the female connector 32 during the installation of the respectivefemale connector 32. The insulation 27 prevents unintended contact by auser with an unused hot terminal 20. The protective cover 14 has a pairof opposing ribs 29 on an inner side wall of the cover 14 configured tosnap into corresponding slots 31 defined in the outer side wall of theindented portion 15 of body 12, allowing the cover 14 to snap about thelower portion 15 of body 12, as shown, to enclose the electrical busses.This cover 14 provides safety to prevent contact with the poweredelectrical busses, and arrest any sparks, that meets the UnderwriterLaboratories (UL) safety criteria.

As shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 6A, FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, a respective wiresegment 30 electrically couples a respective terminal of the receptacle13 to the respective terminal 20 of the electrical bus. Each wiresegment 30 preferably has female type connector 32 on each end, and theterminals of the receptacle 13 are male blade-type terminals similar tothe terminals 20 as shown. In an alternative embodiment, the receptacle13 can have female terminals and the respective end of the wire segment30 has a male blade-type connector. For instance, for each receptacle13, a first wire segment provides a hot connection, a second wiresegment provides line neutral, and a third wire segment provides ground.The third wire segment is optional in some AC installations. In analternative embodiment, the first wire segment may provide a first DCvoltage, and the second wire segment provides negative. A thirdconnection may not be used in a DC application.

FIG. 6B shows an alternative embodiment of the receptacle box. In thisembodiment, the electrical busses are molded into the bottom wall 22, inthe indented portion 15 of housing 12, and the removable cover 14 isexcluded. An advantage of this embodiment is that the electrical bussesare not exposed and eliminating the cover 14 simplifies the design. Anadvantage of the embodiment of FIG. 6A is that the electrical busses canbe accessed by removing the cover 14, to allow voltage testing of thebus such as during fault analysis.

The electrical busses and terminals 26 forming the receptacle boxconnectors on each side of the receptacle box 10 facilitates thecontinuity of a circuit connecting other receptacle boxes 10 in series.

Referring to FIG. 9, the cover 14 forms a secondary “pseudobox” box,isolated from and below the cavity 11, which cavity 11 may be referredto as a primary box. The pseudobox is indented from the primary box 11by approximately ¼ inch to accommodate the removable cover 14. Thepseudobox extends beyond the primary box by approximately ¾ inch and isincluded in the total depth measurement of the device.

FIG. 10 illustrates the receptacle box 10 without the receptacles 13 andwire segments 30, and including a removable peel back protective plasticcover 40. The cover 40 is provided during manufacturing and is left inplace during installation. This peel back cover serves to protect theinterior of the box during the period between “rough electricalinstallation” and the “final electrical installation.” This protects theterminals 20 and keeps the cavity clean until installation of thereceptacles 13. For instance, the cover 40 prevents construction debris,such as sheet rock paste, from entering the cavity 11. The housing 12may also have additional knock-out tabs to facilitate additional wiringif desired.

The receptacle box 10 simplifies new construction installation and postconstruction replacement of receptacles and receptacle boxes. Thereceptacle box 10 is designed to produce less heat/resistance than aconventional receptacle box by reducing the amount of internal wiringcontained within the box. Less overall heat equates to a lower firehazard.

The housing 12 may be constructed via injection molding of clear PVCmaterial. The housing 12 can be constructed in various sizes toaccommodate 1, 2, 3, or 4 Decora style switches or outlets, or otherstyles as desired. As an example, a dual gang receptacle box 10 willmeasure approximately 4 inches in width, 3¼ inches in depth, and 4½inches in height, including the top and bottom flanges as shown inFIG. 1. Single gang, triple gang, quadruple gang receptacle boxes 10 canbe formed as well.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art to make various changes,alterations and modifications to the invention described herein. To theextent such changes, alterations and modifications do not depart fromthe spirit and scope of the appended claims, they are intended to beencompassed therein.

Those skilled in the art will realize that the process sequencesdescribed above may be equivalently performed in any order to achieve adesired result. Also, sub-processes may typically be omitted as desiredwithout taking away from the overall functionality of the processesdescribed above.

I claim:
 1. A receptacle box comprising: a housing having a bottom walland a plurality of sidewalls forming a first recess; at least oneelectrical outlet or switch secured to the housing and disposed in thefirst recess; a plurality of electrical terminals disposed in the bottomwall; a plurality of electrical conductor segments extending between theoutlet or switch and the electrical terminals; and a first connectorcoupled to the housing and electrically connected to the plurality ofelectrical terminals.
 2. The receptacle box as specified in claim 1further comprising a plurality of electrical busses extending betweenthe first connector and the plurality of electrical terminals.
 3. Thereceptacle box as specified in claim 2 further comprising a coverselectively coupled to the housing and configured to encompass theplurality of electrical busses.
 4. The receptacle box as specified inclaim 2 wherein the plurality of electrical busses are embedded in thebottom wall of the housing.
 5. The receptacle box as specified in claim1 wherein the electrical terminals are comprised of male-type terminals.6. The receptacle box as specified in claim 5 further comprising aplurality of openings extending through the bottom wall, wherein theplurality of electrical terminals extend through the openings.
 7. Thereceptacle box as specified in claim 6 wherein: the male-type terminalsare coated in an electrical insulation material; the segments have atleast one female-type connector configured to strip away the electricalinsulation material when connected to the respective male-type terminal.8. The receptacle box as specified in claim 6 further comprising apeel-off cover disposed across the first recess and configured toprevent debris from entering the first recess.
 9. The receptacle box asspecified in claim 1 wherein the segments each comprise a flexible wirehaving a female-type connector at each end thereof.
 10. The receptaclebox as specified in claim 1 further comprising: a second connectorselectively coupled to the first connector; and a plurality of flexiblewires coupled to the second connector and configured to couple thereceptacle box to another said receptacle box.
 11. The receptacle box asspecified in claim 5 comprising: a first set of said male-type terminalsdisposed directly under a first said electrical outlet or switch; asecond set of said male-type terminals disposed directly under a secondsaid electrical outlet or switch; wherein a first set of said segmentsare coupled between the first set of said male-type terminals and thefirst said electrical outlet or switch; and a second set of saidsegments are coupled between the second set of male-type terminals andthe second said electrical outlet or switch.
 12. The receptacle box asspecified in claim 2 wherein the housing includes a flange disposedabout the first recess, and a member configured to secure a stud betweenthe member and the flange to secure the housing to the stud.
 13. Thereceptacle box as specified in claim 3 wherein the housing has a secondrecess defined under the bottom wall, wherein the bottom wall separatesthe first recess from the second recess, and the plurality of electricalbusses extend within the second recess.
 14. The receptacle box asspecified in claim 13 wherein the second recess is formed by wallsindented from at least one sidewall of the housing.
 15. The receptaclebox as specified in claim 14 wherein the cover is flush with thesidewalls when secured to the housing about the walls forming the secondrecess.
 16. The receptacle box as specified in claim 12 wherein theflange has alignment tabs configured to align the electrical outlet orswitch when coupled to the housing and disposed in the first recess. 17.A receptacle box comprising: a housing having a bottom wall and aplurality of sidewalls forming a first recess; an electrical outlet orswitch secured to the housing and disposed in the first recess; aplurality of electrical male-type terminals disposed in the bottom wall;a plurality of electrical conductor segments extending between theoutlet or switch and the electrical terminals, wherein the segments havea female-type connector on one end coupled to one of the male-typeterminals; a plurality of electrical busses extending between the firstconnector and the plurality of electrical terminals; and a firstconnector coupled to the housing and electrically connected to theplurality of electrical busses.
 18. The receptacle box as specified inclaim 17 further comprising a cover selectively coupled to the housingand configured to encompass the plurality of electrical busses.
 19. Thereceptacle box as specified in claim 18 further comprising a pluralityof openings extending through the bottom wall, wherein the plurality ofelectrical terminals extend through the openings.
 20. The receptacle boxas specified in claim 19 comprising: a first set of said male-typeterminals disposed directly under the electrical outlet or switch; afirst set of said segments are coupled between the first set of saidmale-type terminals and the electrical outlet or switch.